Note 428 — Chapter IV · PRE-CHRISTIAN GNOSTICS: THE ORPHICI

This is, perhaps, the only satisfactory reason that can be assigned for the secrecy with which the Mysteries of Eleusis, of the Great Mother, and the rest were surrounded. The notion put forward by the Fathers that the mystic rites were kept secret because of their obscenity has little weight when we consider the Phallophoria and the Terms, or street statues of Hermes, which were publicly exhibited. The existence of secret rites among primitive folk like the black races of Africa and the native Australians can be explained in the same way.